LEAL FILHO, W., MANDEL, M., AL-AMIN, A., FEHER, A., JABBOUR, C. J. C.

(2016)

An assessment of the causes and consequences of agricultural land abandonment in Europe.

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2016.1240113

Review: An Assessment of the Causes and Consequences of Agricultural Land Abandonment

in Europe

Walter Leal Filho1*, Merit Mandel2 , Abul Quasem Al-Amin3, Alexander Feher4, Charbel José
Chiappetta Jabbour5

1.School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street,
Manchester, M1 5GD, United Kingdom; *Corresponding author
E-mail: w.leal@mmu.ac.uk

2. Department of Geomatics, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu 51014,

Estonia
E-mail: merit.mandel@emu.ee

3. Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Malaysia

Email: amin.cantt@gmail.com

4. Slovakia University of Agriculture, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, SK- 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia

E-mail:sandfeher@gmail.com

5. University of Stirling, FK9 4LA United Kingdom

E-mail: cjcjabbour@gmail.com

Abstract

The agriculture sector is the principal source of income for around 20% of the EU-26 population,
which live in predominantly rural regions that would be devastated without its contribution.
Moreover, the combined agricultural and food sector forms an important part of the EU economy,
accounting for 15 million jobs (8.3% of total employment) and 4.4% of GDP ((Europedia 2016).
The 12 million active farmers across Europe today, have an average farm size of about 15 hectares,
and are expected to meet the needs of 500 million Europeans. In addition, they are also expected to
promote a sustainable and balanced development of their land, also in areas where production
conditions are difficult. Yet, despite the relevance of the sector, the use of land for agriculture
purposes is not very sustainable. Among other issues, there is a serious problem in respect of the
abandonment of agricultural land. Based on the perceived need for research on this topic, the aim of
this paper is to examine the causes and consequences of agricultural land abandonment, outlining its
social, economic and environmental impacts, as well as the implications for territorial integration.

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Keywords: agricultural land use, land abandonment, land losses, farmers, Europe

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1. Introduction

The sustainable use of land is a matter of primary concern to any country in the world.
Indeed, sustainable land use is mentioned across many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) .In particular, Goal 15 (Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse
land degradation, halt biodiversity loss) clearly states that there is a pressing need to fight
deforestation and desertification, which not only pose major challenges to sustainable
development,but also negatively affects the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight
against poverty. But one major threat to sustainable land use, is the issue of land abandonment.
Therefore, apart from describing the problem and its scope, the paper also suggests some
sustainability measures which may be adopted in order to ameliorate the problem.

Land abandonment is a term commonly used to describe uncultivated land ('Land used for
agricultural purposes until recent times but not currently cultivated, with a noticeable cover of
shrubs'), as abandoned land ('Land not subject to any cultivation practice (including conservation
agriculture), nor intended for grazing'), neglected land (when they pose a threat to neighbour
owners) (Rico 2011). Land abandonment is one possible outcome of a process of marginalisation
driven by a combination of social, economic, political and environmental factors, by which certain
areas of farmland cease to be viable under existing land use and socio-economic structures
(Keenleyside and Tucker 2010).

Land abandonment often is a complex and gradual process, starting with a progressive
marginalisation (i.e. withdrawal of land management) that leads initially to a reduction in farming
intensity (e.g. lower stocking rates, withdrawal of grazing from the margins and infrequent
cultivations) (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010). Farmland abandonment is a widespread land-use
change in temperate regions, due to increasing yields on productive lands, conservation policies, and
the increasing imports of agricultural products from other regions (Estelet al. 2015).Farmland
abandonment (FLA) can be defined as the cessation of agricultural activities on a given surface of
land and not taken by another activity (such as urbanisation or afforestation) (Pointereauet al. 2008).

The research importance of the topic can be assessed if one considers that, over last decades, large
agricultural areas were abandoned worldwide, and relatively little research has focused on it.
Agricultural or farmland abandonment is the process starting with withdrawal of agricultural
management that leads initially to a reduction in farming intensity,and is followed by a progression
of natural succession processes (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010a). However, it should be also noted
that the literature provides more than one definition of the term, depending on the type of an used
approach: administrative, social, ecological landscape or agronomic (Pointereau et al. 2008). For
example, Joint Research Centre(JRC) defines farmland abandonment as‘a significant decrease in
management which leads to undesirable changes in ecosystem services’(Keenleyside and Tucker
2010a).

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Land abandonment is a serious problem in Africa, with serious climate implications (Tesfaye, Seifu
2016). In Europe, the problem is considered as one of the major environmental threats to territorial
cohesion (Zakkak et al. 2015), since substantial areas have been affected by agricultural
abandonment (Pointereau et al. 2008) The situation varies from a region to a region due to
economic, social and demographic situation, natural conditions and historical development.
Particularly, the problem is prominent in south-eastern Europe(Zakkak et al. 2015). During the
1990s millions of hectares of farmland (e.g. 15-20% of cropland in Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine)
were abandoned as a result of the transition process (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010a, van Dijk et al.
2004). Between years 2001 and 2012, up to 7.6 Mha of agricultural land was abandoned, in Eastern
Europe, Southern Scandinavia, and Europe's mountain regions (Estel et al. 2015). The analysis of
the 2004-06 Rural Development Programmes has shown that as a result of poor soils and
unfavourable economic conditions 17.6% of the agricultural land was abandoned in Poland, 10.1%,
in Estonia, 21.1% in Latvia and 10.3% in Lithuania (van Dijk et al. 2004).

A wide range of studies introduces different drivers, causes, indices of farmland abandonment.
Mostly are the result of environmental and socio-economic changes (Cramer et al. 2008).The
following drivers are often named as the most common:

• Rural-urban migration stimulated by cultural attraction and new economic opportunities in

cities(Aide and Grau 2004), or asa result of armed conflicts, political instability, or large-
scale natural catastrophes e.g. hurricanes (Aide and Grau 2004, Zakkak et al. 2015).
• Ecological drivers such as elevation, geological substrate, slope, fertility, soil depth, climate
change, soil erosion as a consequence of land mismanagement and/or overexploitation, when
they constrain agricultural production (Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• An increase of yields on productive lands, conservation policies, and the increasing imports
of agricultural products from other regions (Estel et al. 2015).
• Reduction of the profitability of farming enterprises e.g. a decrease of crop prices makes it
very difficult for small-scale farmers to compete (Aide and Grau 2004, Keenleyside and
Tucker 2010a).
• Technology, industrialization, landtenure systems, security, accessibility (e.g. roads) and
proximity to cities (Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• Small-scale, family farms closing, lack of economic and demographic viability, low
mobility of land market (Rico 2011).
• Reduction of landscape heterogeneity and promotion of vegetation;
• homogenisation, often associated with increased fire frequency;
• reduction of water stocks, biodiversity loss and reduced population of adapted species and
loss of cultural and aesthetic values (Benayas et al. 2007).

The causes of agricultural land abandonment in Europe are manifold, depending on the area and the
period under consideration (Pointereau et al. 2008, Terres et al. 2015).JRC classified the recurrent
determinants of farmland abandonment in EU into three blocks(Terres et al. 2013):

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 1. Poor environmental / biophysical suitability for agricultural activity;
2. Low farm stability and viability ;
3. Negative drivers from regional context.

In addition to the aforementioned general key drivers, experts have pointed out such causes as share
of subsidies from the Common Agricilture Policy (CAP) in the income, low investments on the
farm, age of a farm holder, lower farmer qualification, and weak land market (Terres et al.
2013).Pointereau et al. (2008) also talk about historical factors e.g. transition to free market
economies with a breakdown of the gricultural economy during the 1990-2004 period inEastern
European countries, national and EU policies e.g. problems in renewing agri-environment contracts
after 5 years duration, new CAP sanitary requirements from in eastern European countries since
2004, and decoupling of direct payments from a product (Pointereau et al. 2008). Basically, these
analyses point to ways in which the application of policies for economic purposes may have
(unintended) impacts upon marginal areas because of their particular socio-economic and
environmental characteristics, which reduce the viability of farming or otherwise commercially
managing these areas, leading to their abandonment.

2. Implications of land abandonment

The consequences of farmland abandonment are very diverse across the EU, and have serious
implications for biodiversity and ecosystem function (Munroe et al. 2013). However, it is important
to note that at the same time they can be considered as potentially negative or positive(Eurostat
2013).

Positive

Among the benefits of land abandonment, the following elements have been identified:

• An opportunity to restore an historical vegetation state (Cramer et al. 2008).

• Facilitation of ecosystem recovery. The recovering ecosystems may provide ecological
services for the growing urban population and could support biodiversity (Aide and Grau
2004).
• Passive revegetation and active reforestation(Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• An opportunity for significant large-scale restoration of non-agricultural habitats (e.g.re-
wilding) (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010a).
• Water regulation(Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• Increased carbon sequestration as a result of vegetation regrowth (Munroe et al. 2013).
• Soil recoveryalong with nutrient cycling (Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• A reduction in agricultural chemicals pollution for areasthat were previously intensively
managed (Pointereau et al. 2008).

Negative
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In many other circumstances abandonment may be damaging. Among the negative
implicationslinked to the abandonment of agricultural land,the following may be mentioned:

• Reduction of landscape heterogeneity and promotion of vegetation homogenisation (Rey

Benayas et al. 2007).
• Alteration ofecosystem processes (Cramer et al. 2008).
• Soil erosion and desertification(Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• Threat to a range of semi-natural habitats and associated species of nature conservation
importance, many of which are concentrated in Natura 2000 sites or are High Nature Value
(HNV) farmland (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010a) that resulted in lower conservation value
of this type of land (Pointereau et al. 2008).
• Reduction of water availability(Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• Significant biodiversity loss and reduced population of adapted species. For example, end of
low fertiliser input, andgrazing or mowing negatively affects species that are dependent on
such activities(Pointereau et al. 2008).
• Loss of cultural and aesthetic values(Rey Benayas et al. 2007).
• Increase of wildfire frequency and intensity(Moreira and Russo 2007).

Unfortunately, such issues are seldom tackled in the curriculum (Dmochowski, Garofalo, Fisher,
Greene, Gambogi 2016), hence good opportunties for the training of students are being missed.

3. Examples of abandoned agricultural areas in Europe

A review of abandoned agricultural areas is based on publications in English. A systematic search in

ScienceDirect database (Search all fields = (agricultural land abandonment) or Search all fields =
(farmland abandonment); Year = 2000 – 2016; Topic = Europe + Agriculture) resulted in 433
potentially relevant papers. After screening the title, abstract and case study area, 23 were finally
selected for this study. We included publications that specified case study area or reported the rate or
amount of abandoned agricultural area. ScienceDirect database was selected, because it is full-text
database which makes the screening process faster and easier.

Figure 1 here

The authors identified 36 case studies from the selected publications. Case study areas varied from
13 km2 to 10 million km2, with median of 255 km2 . 74 % of the studies were published after 2010.
The timespan of the case studies was 1782 to 2012. The median start year of case study periods is
1988 and the median end year is 2007. Most of the studies (19) were long period studies –
abandonment was measured more than 10 years back in time. The study period ranged from 1 to 224

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years, with an average of 29 years. Abandonment rates varied from 44.56 ha to 46.1 Mha, or 1.5
%to 45 % of the agricultural land area within the territory.

When looking at the causes or drivers of agricultural land abandonment, socio-economic and
ecological drivers are dominant in the selected studies (Table 1). Division of the abandonment
drivers is synthesised based on (Rey Benayas et al. 2007)and (Pointereau et al. 2008). Only one-
fourth of the studies mentioned policy-driven factors. A Latvian case study (Abolina and Luzadis
2015) highlighted that socio-economic drivers have greater effect upon land abandonment than
environmental or biophysical factors. A similar conclusion is supported by a study (Gellrich and
Zimmermann 2007) in Swiss mountain areas where land abandonment is driven by migration and
income decline from agriculture. In a Slovakian case study (Pazúr et al. 2014) ecological factors
(e.g. soil quality, higher slopes, accessibility) were important for determining the location and extent
of land abandonment, but these acted in combination with socio-economic changes. In essence,
because abandonment signifies a change in land use, it generally links to changes in wider
circumstances which are more often socio-economic or anthropogenic in nature than purely the
result of biophysical change. Often, these changes can be linked to policies.(Prishchepov et al. 2013)
and (Corbelle-Rico et al. 2015) both concluded the importance of policies in relation to land
abandonment and future land use.

Table 1 here

Drawing out the possible consequences of agricultural land abandonment seems to have faded into
the background as a focus in selected studies. One reason may be the lack of data and methodology
for how to assess or attribute the possible consequences of the land abandonment. According to the
Zaragozí et al. (2012) and (Rey Benayas 2007) land abandonment may have positive or negative
effectsupon future land use. Findings of possible consequences from the selected literature (Table 2)
coincide with those mentioned in section 2‘Implication of land abandonment’. Depending on the
study site, the positive or negative effects of the consequence may vary. For example, agricultural
land abandonment may have positive effectsupon soil erosion in hilly areas (Bakker et al. 2008) and
negative effects on dry regions (Rey Benayas 2007). In selected studies, environmental
consequences (e.g. biodiversity loss, revegetation, soil erosion and wildfire risks) are more recorded
than socio-economic ones (e.g. rural depopulation, changes in local economy, renewable energy
potential). According to (Milenov et al. 2014) agricultural land abandonment may have a snowball
effect on the local economy through structural changes and decreasing demand for labour skills
leading to further land abandonment. Income reduction from agriculture (Kanianska et al. 2014)
may lead to outmigration (Baumann et al. 2011) from the rural areas unbalancing rural communities
and thus stimulating further decline.

Table 2 here
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Another aspect of the agricultural land abandonment studies is the location of the case study sites.
At first sight, it may seem that it is a well studied topic. While looking little bit deeper, it appears
that several publications are based on the same study areas with different perspectives (e.g.
Corbelle-Rico et al. 2012, Corbelle-Rico et al. 2015, Gellrich and Zimmermann 2007, Gellrich et al.
2007). The limited location aspect is emphasised by (Hatna and Bakker 2011) as most studies are
based on small areas, biased towards marginal areas. Selected study sites are located in areas where
land abandonment is estimated to occur – European mountain areas, areas with poor soils and harsh
climate (Keenleyside and Tucker 2010b). (Łowicki 2008) was one the few finding that
abandonment of agricultural areas took place in the vicinity of large cities, where a whole range of
different drivers are in play. The proximity of the city sets a pressure for land use change, setting it
aside for speculative development purposes (Vanwambeke et al. 2012), as agricultural land becomes
attractive to real estate developers (Lieskovsky et al. 2013). This is an aspect meriting further
consideration in future abandonment studies.

4. Measures to Mitigate Land Abandonment

As discussed above, the consequences of land abandonment and their significant impact on various
fields attractconsiderable attention from policy makers at national and EU level (Eurostat, 2013).The
main discussion point regarding the measures addressing the problem is the environmental trade-off
between its negative or positive implications. Therefore, it is not always an EU priority to bring
abandoned land back into production(van Dijk et al. 2004).

There is a diversity of drivers of agricultural abandonment, which are closed related to pathways of
land use change. Some of them are: relationship to fire, damages to landscape management and
influences to biodiversity. In addition, a diversity of policies have been playing a role in reducing
the portions of land are being abandoned.

For instance, the common agricultural policy (CAP) includes environmental requirements attached
to the necessary management of agricultural land and offers two main instruments to avoid land
abandonment (decoupled direct payments and compensatory payments in Areas of Natural
Constraints). The first contributes to stabilizing and enhancing farm income, whereas the second
helps maintain farming activity in areas which, due to adverse natural conditions, are less
profitable(Eurostat, 2013).In addition cross-compliance measures applied to direct
paymentsrequire landowners to maintain agricultural land in ‘good agricultural and environmental
condition’ and thus reduce the risks of complete abandonment (Keenleyside and Tucker
2010a).Therefore, many experts anticipate a higher level of land abandonment as a result of reduced
levels of CAP support for extensive farming (Terres et al. 2013).

To supportareas that are designated as High Nature Value (HNV) farmland i.e. to ensure
preservation of their biodiversity value, restoration activities, including removal of unwanted
vegetation, need to be undertaken (van Dijk et al. 2004).There are also a number of EU policies that
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support the management of abandoned land for the benefit of biodiversity, e.g. theHabitats and Birds
Directives and the Biodiversity Plan for Agriculture (van Dijk et al. 2004). Another alternative
approach to the management of such land is rewilding. Navarro and Pereira (2012) argue that it
should be recognized by policy-makers as one of the possible land management options in Europe,
particularly on marginal areas. The approach covers change in ecosystems and aims at restoring
ecological dynamics. The important point is that rewilding does not target to conserve species
occurrences, but to allow natural processes to regain dominance in landscapes (Pereira and Navarro
2015).
It should be noted that some measures focused on agro-environmental services and forest
regeneration e.g. payments for environmental service(s) (PES) systems, may actually subsidise and
accelerate the abandonment of marginal agricultural areas (Sierra and Russman 2006, Wunder et al.,
2005).

5. Conclusions

Land abandonment is a major barrier to sustainable development efforts in rural areas for three main
reasons: uncultivated land allows the uncontrolled growth of shrubs and many undesired plants,
instead of organised biodiversity planning, it makes the land more vulnerable to fire, and in some
occasions, to soil erosion. Land abandonment also means possible losses of income to people living
in such areas.

As outlined in this paper, land abandonment is a dynamic process driven by many factors including
time span, region, and historical development(Keenleyside and Tucker 2010a). According to
projections, there is likely to be significant levels of farmland abandonment in Europe over the next
20 - 30 years (Terres et al. 2013).However, these projections may be unsafe as they do not fully rely
upon scientific evidence, which demonstrates potential issues of bias due to repeat sampling and an
under-representation of non-marginal areas.

As this paper has shown, land abandonment can pose a major threat to sustainable land use in
particular and to the sustainable development of rural areas as a whole. It therefore needs to be
addressed, as a matter of urgency, so that its consequences in the medium and long-term may be
avoided.

Furthermore, the measures most suitable for addressing the phenomenon are strongly dependent on
government choice, whether to support the positive environmental implications or to tackle the
negative consequences.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Janet Dwyerfor her comments to an early draft of this paper.

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 A., 2008. Analysis of the Driving Forces behind Farmland Abandonment and the Extent and
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environmental services in vietnam have so far remained incipient, Cifor.Org. Bogor Barat,
Indonesia.

16
Zakkak, S., Radovic, A., Nikolov, S.C., Shumka, S., Kakalis, L., Kati, V., 2015. Assessing the
effect of agricultural land abandonment on bird communities in southern-eastern Europe. J.
Environ. Manage. 164, 171–179. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.09.005
Zaragozí, B., Rabasa, A., Rodríguez-Sala, J.J., Navarro, J.T., Belda, A., Ramón, A., 2012.
Modelling farmland abandonment: A study combining GIS and data mining techniques. Agric.
Ecosyst. Environ. 155, 124–132. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2012.03.019

17
Table 1. General summary of the identified agricultural land abandonment drivers by their location
according to the literature review

Identified drivers Country/ region Source

Socio-economic
demographic trends and settlement pattern
(e.g. high emigration rate, rural population
change, elderly index, high average age of
residents)
Slovakia; Ukraine; (Pazúr et al., 2014); (Kanianska et al., 2014);
Latvia; Mediterranean (Baumann et al., 2011); (Abolina and
region, Eastern Europe; Luzadis, 2015); (Kosmas et al., 2014);

density of private economic entities; Poland (Łowicki, 2008)

low yields and high cultivation costs; Swiss mountains (Gellrich and Zimmermann, 2007); (Gellrich
et al., 2007)
agricultural market constraints (absence of temperate European (Prishchepov et al., 2013); (Corbelle-Rico et
liberalized markets, market actions, an Russia; Spain; al., 2015); (Lieskovsky et al., 2013)
unfavourable agricultural market) Slovakia

economic and financial constraints (e.g. Latvia; Slovakia; (Abolina and Luzadis, 2015);(Łowicki,
economic activity of residents; the Swiss mountains; 2008);(Lieskovsky et al., 2013); (Gellrich et
financial inability of farmers; relative temperate European al., 2007); (Prishchepov et al., 2013)
decline of the agricultural income; Russia
withdrawal of agricultural subsidies)

Accessibility (e.g. remoteness, distance France; Portugal; (Pazúr et al., 2014); (Beilin et al., 2014);
from roads, proximity to forest and shrubs, Sweden; Spain; Latvia; (Corbelle-Rico et al., 2012); (Bakker and
distance from river, vicinity of large cities) Slovakia; van Doorn, 2009); (Estel et al., 2015);
Poland; Italy; Greece; (Mottet et al., 2006); (Łowicki, 2008);
temperate European (Vanwambeke et al., 2012); (Prishchepov et
Russia al., 2013)
Ecological
soil properties (e.g. soil quality, less fertile Portugal; Greece; (Pazúr et al., 2014); (Abolina and Luzadis,
soil) Mediterranean region, 2015); (Abolina et al., 2015)(Bakker et al.,
rainfall seasonality; Eastern Europe; Latvia; 2008); (Gellrich et al., 2007); (Kosmas et al.,
vegetation properties (e.g. fraction of Spain; Slovakia; 2014); (Baumann et al., 2011); (Milenov et
brown vegetation cover, vegetation index) Ukraine; Bulgaria; al., 2014); (Zaragozí et al., 2012)
Swiss mountains

high/steep slopes; Slovakia; Spain; Italy; (Pazúr et al., 2014); (Corbelle-Rico et al.,
Portugal; Ukraine 2012); (Bakker and van Doorn, 2009);
(Bakker et al., 2008); (Cocca et al., 2012);
(Baumann et al., 2011)

geographical context; Mediterranean region, (van der Sluis et al., 2015);

Land fragmentation; Eastern Europe; (Kosmas et al., 2014);
Spain Zaragozí et al.(2012)

small plot area;

the expansion of forest Portugal; Sweden (Beilin et al., 2014);

Political

18
policy obstacles(e.g. political actions, Mediterranean region, (Corbelle-Rico et al., 2015); (Abolina and
absence clear government policies) Eastern Europe; Latvia; Luzadis, 2015); (Kosmas et al., 2014);
land-use policy (restitution of private Spain
property); Slovakia (Kanianska et al., 2014)

establishment of 'new wilderness areas' Swiss mountains (Gellrich and Zimmermann, 2007)

19
Table 2. Summary of possible consequences of agricultural land abandonment
Effect Possible consequence
Continuous abandonment
Increasing wildfire risks
Decrease of traditional
Negative farming, marginalisation
Changes in local economy
Loss of traditional
landscapes (cultural, high
nature value)
Outmigration from rural
areas
Re-vegetation (forest re-
growth, increase of woody
vegetation)
Biodiversity loss
Positive
Soil erosion decrease
Pollution and sediment
export decrease from
agriculture
Bio- and renewable energy
potential
20
Source
(Pazúr et al., 2014);
(Beilin et al., 2014)
(Corbelle-Rico et al., 2015);
(Kanianska et al.,
2014);(Mottet et al., 2006);
(Milenov et al., 2014)
van der Sluis et al.(2015);
Lieskovsky et al. (2013);
Cocca et al.(2012)
(Baumann et al., 2011)
(Zaragozí et al., 2012);
(Vanwambeke et al., 2012);
(Cocca et al., 2012);
(Lieskovsky et al., 2013)
(Corbelle-Rico et al.,
2015);(van der Sluis et al.,
2015);(Milenov et al., 2014)
(Bakker et al., 2008)
(Bakker et al., 2008);
(Milenov et al., 2014)
(Estel et al., 2015); (Abolina
et al., 2015)
Figure 1. Location of case study areas. Large and medium scale studies are marked in the centre of
this area

21